Many Unlikely Circumstances
by Retaya Fox
Summary: The Wizard gets caught up in an accident which leaves the Harvest God mortal. Now he must make things right again. But how will a new girl in town complicate things? WizardxHikari GodxAkari
1. Rumor Has It

**(A/N: Obviously I don't own Harvest Moon.**

**Hikari/Molly will be reffered to as Penelope in this fan fiction. I have yet to decide upon a name for Akari/Angela, but you can influence my decision by voting in the poll on my profile.**

**The pairings are…**

**Molly/Hikari x The Wizard Gale**

**Angela/Akari x The Harvest God Ignis**

**And all rival pairings are paired together too**

**That is all.)**

Chapter 1

Rumor Has It

It is not often that circumstances of this nature come to be. It is all so utterly unlikely that anything this strange would have ever happened. More often does one get struck by lightning while Jupiter and Saturn are aligned on leap-year , than these sort of events take place. I cannot possibly express how hard to believe this story will be, but nonetheless it is completely true. I witnessed it. I took part in it. And now I sit here, writing out these events so that the whole truth will be in writing.

I am the Wizard called Gale. I can tell you my name, because I have made plans to have this book released only after I am dead, which likely will be a while. Nevertheless, this story began on the day of New Year's eve. As with every year, I went with my family to the festival held in town, looking through the booths at all the new and unique items that villagers sold there in the fading twilight. My two children in particular loved the New Year's festival for different reasons. My oldest, Stella, being the silly girl that she was, always insisted on buying some seemingly trivial object from the booths, most often things that are shiny. I never understood what use she had for them, but I bought them nonetheless. Seeing her smile was worth it. My younger son, Ray, was a bit different however. He had always been more practical and analytical when it came to most things, except for food. That was his one and only weakness. He absolutely could not turn down anything tasty no matter how deep-fried and unhealthy it was. Most of the year I had pushed healthy food choices with him, but today was New Year's Eve, so I figured that he could afford to have a few treats.

And then there was Penelope, my endlessly kind and cheerful wife. I had been rather alone before she came into my life. I suppose you can say I was so lonely that I hardly realized it myself. But after what felt like a rather short period of time, she completely changed everything about how I lived my life. That in itself deserves a separate book so I shall be brief on this subject. When it came to New Year's Eve, I remember it being the first steps in her trying to get me to socialize. I have never been a people person, but on New Year's Eve during our first year of marriage, she insisted that I come with her and meet people. By the time both our children were born, most of Castanet had become rather comfortable with me and I with them. I was no longer an enigmatic person to them, and a few (First Toby, and later on Julius and Luke) realized that I was a wizard and not just a fortune teller with no name. I had been apprehensive at first, but I grew to trust the people. Castanet was a good town with good people. Penelope taught me that.

But I digress. The tale began that night on New Year's Eve when I happened to be conversing with Toby at the time. He had finished whatever he had gone to do that night and I was waiting for the results of the fashion contest to be announced. I really didn't care for that contest, but Penelope had entered, so it was only right that I care a little about the outcome. That and Stella really got a kick out of that kind of stuff. So as I waited, Toby and I calmly small-talked at each other about the lights or the food or how nice the stars look in wintertime. But somehow, I don't remember why, our conversation ended up on the Witch.

"I saw her outside of the forest a few days ago." Toby said calmly, "I'd heard you mention her a few times but I'd never actually seen her until just recently."

"You saw the Witch?" I was probably a bit more surprised than Toby about it, "What was she doing outside Fugue Forest?"

"I don't know. Maybe she wanted some fresh air. That forest is a pretty dark place after all. I'm sure even the Witch gets tired of it."

"Yes, that's possible, but I've never known her to go outside the forest unless out of necessity. It probably isn't my business though."

With that our conversation floated elsewhere until eventually the contest results were announced. Penelope had gotten second place with Julius snagging first…again. I don't claim to know much about fashion, but I suppose that the guy who has his own TV show on it would probably have an advantage. Penelope, always the positive one, was rather happy to get second place, so I was happy as well. At this point though, Candice and Penelope had begun chatting, and the children were busy being children with Angie, so I figured it only made sense to talk with Julius. And oddly enough, as with my previous conversation, the subject ended up shifting to the Witch.

"Wizard, if you happen to see the Witch any time soon, I want you to give her a message for me." Julius told me, "She stole a ruby from the refinery shop and I have proof of it!"

I was rather surprised at this, "The Witch? Stealing gems? That doesn't sound like something she would do at all. She may be unpleasant at times but she is no theif."

"Well as I said, I have proof. I found strands of silver hair at the scene. Who else has silver hair in all of Castanet?"

"…Toby?"

"Oh don't be silly. Why on earth would Toby of all people ever want steal anything? And what's more, his hair is not silver. It is a very light shade of sea foam blue." Julius had always been specific when it came to colors.

" They weren't that hard to find either. I don't know how but she must have broke in late at night. Mira and I are really worried about it. Do you think we should make better security?"

"Did she steal anything else?"

"No…just one ruby," Julius paused at this, "You know, now that I think about it, there were at least six or seven fully refined gemstones that she could have stolen too, but she only took the ruby. That's rather peculiar of her."

Indeed it was. So I told Julius that I would confront the Witch later on and gave him simple advice on how to Witch-proof his valuables from then on. He was rather thankful for the advice, and next thing I knew, I was back with my family cruising around the streets. The children had met up with other children and so Penelope and I decided to sit down on a bench to watch them play. Normally I would have felt calm and at peace doing such a simple thing as sitting with my love and watching children play, but of course my mind kept going back to my previous conversations regarding the Witch. Of course it was only a matter of time before Penelope noticed something was wrong.

"Dear? Is something bothering you?" she asked simply.

And with a sigh, I answered, "It's the Witch. I've heard some troubling rumors about her."

"What sorts of rumors?"

And then I proceeded to explain to her what Toby and then Julius had already told me. It felt good to get such things off my chest. This and it is simply unwise to keep such matters to one's self. She seemed to understand quite completely the reasons for my suspicion, and after I had spoken, she gave me yet another piece of valuable testimony. The pieces of the puzzle were fitting together now.

"Candace told me about the ruby being stolen too. But she also told me something else." Penelope said, "Apparently the day before the ruby was stolen, the Witch outright asked Mira if she could borrow a ruby. Candace was in the shop when she asked you see. Of course Mira refused, and the next day the ruby was gone."

"Did she have any idea why the Witch wanted a ruby?"

"Apparently it was for a spell. She didn't say more than that. Are you familiar with any spells involving rubies? I'm sure you'd know more of that sort of thing than me."

I paused for thought, "Well, usually when a gemstone is involved, it's used as a way to concentrate a spell. Depending on the gem's color, it causes magic to change its affect. But usually Wizards and Witches prefer crystal because it concentrates magic without changing the original spell. It's all quite complicated…"

"So, why would she want a ruby as opposed to a crystal if crystals are better? What would a ruby do that a crystal would not?"

That was when it hit me. My eyes widened quite suddenly as the realization came, and Penelope clearly noticed. True I could have explained it to her, but that would have taken too much time. Time was not something I had much of at this point, that is, if my theory was correct.

"Forgive me Penelope, but I must go. Now. I'll be back as soon as I can." I said, getting to my feet.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked me.

Without missing a beat, I replied, "I'll tell you later. No time."

At this point I took the road uphill and towards the mine car, which was the quickest route I knew that lead to Mt. Garmon. For you see, I was almost certain of what the Witch planned to do. And I'm sure she must have had the purest of intentions about doing it, but the chances of failure were very high, and with dire consequences. I had to at least warn her of them. It was the right thing to do, even if we had a tendency not to get along. And it was upon that mountaintop that this whole charade began, quite by accident.


	2. The Human Spell

**(A/N:**

**There should be a poll on my profile for what I should name Akari/Angela when the time comes to name her. I had troubles with it at first but now it should work. Please vote. I'm honestly stumped as to what I should name her. **

**Oh and thanks to those who have read so far. I appreciate the reviews.)**

Chapter 2

The Human Spell

Climbing the heights of Mt. Garmon were made relatively easy with the enchanted runes upon the side of the mountain. If the Witch were truly going to try the spell that I suspected she would try, this night would be the one to do it. It was during the turn of the new year at midnight that winter officially ended and became spring. It was a time when the gods are hardest at work. And the magic created by their work can most easily be harnessed as well. It resides in all things, but most within the sky. And the highest in the sky of all places accessible to us in Castanet was Mt. Garmon. If she was up to no good, she would be there. And sure enough the Witch was there.

She did not notice my presence at first. You see she was at the topmost platform where often the Harvest God could be found. He was not there at the time. Most likely he was away because of the seasons shifting. It was understandable. The Witch was knelt over and appeared to be adding the finishing touches to a circle of runes drawn in red chalk. In the center of these runes were several similarly red items… cherry jam… a red fish of some kind… some red sea shells … and of course the ruby that she had stolen from the refinery. I knew at that point that I was completely right in my suspicions. I had recognized this spell because of its requirement of red items, and now I was here to warn her.

"Vivi!" I said her name aloud. Immediately she made a nervous twitch before turning to face me. Before she could respond, I continued, "You must stop what you're doing here, now."

"Gale, what are you doing up here?! Can't you see I'm a tad bit busy? …Oh, this is about the ruby isn't it? Well don't worry. I have plans to give it right back to the refinery once I'm done. I just need it to channel the-…"

"I'm serious! You have to stop what you're doing here. I know the spell you're trying…"

"Well if you know it then why would you keep me from trying it out? A lot of good could come of it. I'm going to store the spell inside a bottle, and then if I ever accidentally turn into a frog or something again then I'll be able to turn back really easily just by opening the bottle and unleashing the spell on myself. Why would you have a problem with that?! What?! Do you think I'm not good enough to do advanced spells or something!? You think I'm stupid don't you! Don't you Gale!!"

When the Witch gets angry and starts yelling, it's often hard to get a word in edgewise. Several times during that little speech I had tried to interrupt to no avail. It wasn't until after this that I was able to shout in something.

"You've got it all wrong Vivi!! The spell you're trying is supposed to turn anything human!"

"Yes! That's exactly what I'm trying to do! Haven't you been listening to a word I sai-…"

"NO! Listen! The spell turns anything HUMAN! You aren't technically human. Neither of us are! If you use that on yourself then you'll lose all your magic forever. And I'm almost certain you don't want that."

Finally she seemed to listen. A stunned silence fell between the two of us and for at least five whole seconds nobody said a word. There was just the ominous sound of the wind blowing against the mountaintop. Eventually the Witch broke the silence with a timid and somewhat embarrassed "Oh…"

"W-Well!" she regained her composure and straightened up her spine, "I-I knew that! Silly Gale! Did I say this spell was for me? Oh no no no! I….I meant it for…….for that wife of yours! Yes! Penelope's always so um…..Well you never know when she might accidentally get turned into a frog. It's good to have these kinds of spells on hand in situations like that. …and it would be a shame to have prepared all these ingredients and not to cast a spell, so I'll just cast it, bottle it up, and keep it just in case alright? You can thank me later Gale!"

Of course it was obvious that she had only just made that up on the spot, but there was no use in pointing that out. When the Witch and I get into arguments, she will sometimes resort to rather childish attempts at winning.

"Well if you absolutely must use this spell then fine. Just be careful! And work quickly. I don't want to have to explain to the Harvest God what you're doing here."

"You worry too much." She was making some last minute adjustments to the chalk-runes now, "I do this all the time. I've got plenty of spells in bottles at home locked up in my pantry. You should try bottling spells too Gale."

"Firstly, bottling spells is risky. Bottles can easily get dropped or mixed up…"

"Not if you label them!"

"And secondly, you shouldn't so lightly call me by my name."

"Why not? Nobody's here after all. You really make no sense to me sometimes Gale. No sense at all."

I gave up trying to argue with her at that point. Moments later she recited the incantation of the spell. I will not say what the incantation was because I do not want any magicians in the future to try this spell. If ever you fear that you'll be turned into something other than your previous form, I recommend always keeping cornmeal, hibiscus and some quality butter on hand. That method works a thousand times better and without so much room for slip ups. But at any rate, she cast the spell without that much of a problem, and using the ruby as a way to channel the energy, she caught the energy within a simple bottle, sealing it off with a cork.

"There! And that's how it's done. See Gale? I can do advanced spells just fine."

"That's fine." I said with a sigh, "Just be careful with it. Put it somewhere safe if you insist on keeping it."

She was probably about to argue back at me about how I shouldn't baby her or something of that nature, but this was when something unexpected happened. You see, moments ago midnight had struck, and thus winter had been set off to melt away in time for spring. All things had been put in place for this to happen and the Harvest God's work appeared to be ending for this transition. He was likely just coming back to the mountain for a quick breather before checking up on the subtle details of it all, but his timing and where he happened to appear could not have been worse. You see he had not expected anyone to be on top of Mt. Garmon past midnight, understandably. So quite accidentally he chose to materialize just a few feet in front of the Witch with his back to her. I was a bit in front of him, so I saw every expression he made.

At first he just looked tired, and a little annoyed, which I suppose was normal for him. And then moments later he realized that I was there. So in a thundering and quite aggravated voice he said to me "What are you doing up here?!" At the sudden sight and sound of him, both the Witch and I were quite startled. But the one fatal detail about all this was that the witch happened to be holding the red spell, all bottled up with a cork, and when he spoke she had begun to fumble it in her hands out of jumpiness. My reflexes caused me to reach out my hand and begin to shout something, which ended up coming out more like a concerned moan. It was a futile attempt at stopping the inevitable.

The next thing I knew, the bottle fell to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. There was a bright red light at the top of the mountain that night, as bright as the sun, but it lasted only moments. It temporarily blinded all of us, and I found myself falling flat on my back. Afterwards, I can only assume that I had fallen unconscious.

**(Next chapter we get to see the full aftermath of these events. But I'm sure you've already guessed what mainly happened.**

**Again. I remind you. There is a poll on my profile. Please vote. And thank you for reading this far. You're awesome.)**


	3. Mortality

Chapter 3

Mortality

I awoke several hours later on a bed in a place I did not recognize at first. Images were hazy to me at first, but I saw light and blurred shapes moving about. I also heard voices, though I was too dazed to completely understand what they were saying at first. But through the fog came the voice of my love and soon afterwards I was brought to my senses. It seemed that I was now in the clinic laying on one of their patient beds. Penelope sat at my bedside with a look of sheer anxiety. Really I couldn't blame her. And beyond that stood Doctor Jin, who looked to be glad that I was awake.

"Sweetie? Are you alright? Can you talk? Please talk to me if you can…" she said, leaning over me and stroking my hair. In response, I reached out as well, caressing her cheek.

"I'm alright…" I managed to say, "I'm alright… Really… Don't be worried…"

But of course that was pointless to say. Of course she was going to worry. After all, this was my wife we were talking about. It seems to be an unwritten rule that in any healthy marriage, one of the jobs a spouse has is to worry endlessly about the other. It comes naturally when you love someone. And given the circumstances of what had happened today, even people who were not my spouse had reason enough to worry, as you will soon see.

"Penelope, what happened? All I remember was a flash of light and then I fell over." I told her. She sighed. I'm sure she had been hoping for better information than what I had just given, but she told me what she knew.

"We saw the light too. The whole village saw it actually. Just after midnight there was a big red flash of light coming from the top of Mt. Garmon and then it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. I knew that you or the Witch probably had something to do with it, so me and some of the villagers went up there to see what had happened. All we know was that we found you, the Witch and a red haired man all laying there. Y-You weren't moving at all… I…I thought you might have…" her voice gave out, choked away by tears.

"Hey…shh…Don't cry… Everything's alright now. I feel fine and…" suddenly something in what she had just said registered with my brain, and it hit me like a ton of bricks, "…wait. Did you just say 'a red haired man' was there?"

"Yes. He had very striking red hair actually. And he was dressed just like the Harvest God. Just what was he doing dressing like that? The real Harvest God might have been insulted by someone dressing up like that and prancing around on his mountain. Did he have anything to do with what the witch was up to?"

"Goddess no…"

"Sweetie?"

At this I forced myself into an upright position. I was still not feeling quite well and as soon as I sat up I got a rather dizzying sensation. Jin, who was still standing nearby, quickly came over to me and tried to convince me to stay laying down, but I swatted him away. The horrifying reality of the situation was becoming clearer every minute.

"Where is the red haired man? Is he in this clinic too?" I asked Jin.

Jin nodded, "Yes. He and the Witch are resting nearby. But please Sir. You haven't recovered from the shock yet. You've got to lay down."

"I have to see him first…"

"But Sir…!"

It was too late. I'd already gotten to my feet and was clumsily hobbling my way out to find this red haired man that Penelope spoke of. I had to be sure. Penelope did not try to stop me, but instead stayed with me and helped me to keep my own balance. The person I was seeking was no more than a short walk away in the very same room, only separated from me by white curtains. For the second time in less than twenty-four hours I was finding that every fearful suspicion that I'd had was coming true.

In this hospital bed lay the Harvest God, but he was no longer a god at all. No longer was there a fiery red glow coming from him. Even his previously long wild hair had become unusually short in length, only reaching his mid-back and not down to his feet as before. I can only speculate that somehow his braid had come undone sometime when his hair shortened itself too. But most distressing of all was that he actually looked quite sickly at the moment. His face was devoid of any color whatsoever and was glistening with sweat.

"He's the worst off out of the three of you." Doctor Jin said as he followed Penelope and towards the former god, "You and the Witch came in with only a mild case of shock. He, on the other hand, has a rather high fever and his shock is much more severe. I've never seen anything like it actually."

"Nobody has." I replied, "What horrible luck. Just what are the odds that something like this would happen? And by accident…"

"Sir?"

"Doctor. Could you leave a moment? I need to discuss something with my wife if that's alright with you."

Jin nodded at this, bowed, and then went to leave us be. By now my dizziness was starting to wear off and another fear came to mind. If the Harvest God had become mortal as a result of this spell, had it at all affected me? Of course, me loosing my magic is certainly not as dire a situation as a god loosing their godhood, but it still worried me a bit. But after concentrating I realized that I could still feel magical energies around me as I always had, so that fear was quickly put aside.

"Gale? What's going on? Who is this man?" Penelope finally asked.

"The Harvest God." I answered, "Or at least he _was_ the Harvest God once. Now he's human."

This was clearly enough to shock her, but even now she didn't allow herself to panic. I on the other hand had more important matters at hand. You see, the excuse I had given Jin was really just a means of getting him to leave. I had the intention of using a bit of magic, and I did not want to have to explain it all to him. Too much of a hassle.

"The shock he's in is likely a result of the sudden transition. The spells the Witch was playing with were far too powerful for her own good. If she'd only used a crystal instead of the ruby, the spell would not have been nearly so powerful and would not have overwhelmed a god such as him. But he didn't even know what hit him really. He had no time to defend himself. …what horrible horrible luck."

Quietly I began to place my fingers over the former god's forehead, simply channeling in a small portion of my own magic into him. It was a way to ease the transition. Of course the magic would eventually wear off, but in the mean time it would help his body adjust to its sudden mortality. This, it seemed, was exactly what he needed most at the time, because almost immediately I could feel his fever going down.

"But if he's mortal now, then…what will happen? I mean, isn't he in charge of the seasons and other matters of nature like that?"

"The Harvest Goddess will have to handle them on her own for now…at least until I can find a way to reverse this…"

It was then that he suddenly began to show signs of consciousness. The now mortal man let out a sort of groan, so immediately I pulled my hands away from his forehead and let him wake at his own pace. Within minutes his eyes had opened and he began to look around in confusion at us and at the place he was in. Penelope and I remained silent. I don't think either of us wanted to break it to him what exactly had happened, but of course we knew it would inevitably come up. Finally he broke the silence.

"What's going on here? Where am I? …and why do I feel so heavy?" even as a mortal his voice still had the same intimidating quality to it.

"Well, Harvest God…" I took a long pause trying to find the words, "There was a bit of an accident that took place on the mountaintop…"

"Yes, yes, I know that! I remember you and the Witch and a blinding light…"

By now he was quickly trying to get to his feet. Already he had sat up and attempted to walk out of bed, but it seemed that he experienced the same dizzy feeling that I had, only ten times worse. Penelope and I had to scramble to catch him before he fell flat on his face. Once we'd sat him back down on the bed he had an even more severely confused look. Being a god, things like sickness, let alone dizziness were rather foreign to him, and I'm sure he knew something had gone horribly wrong. He then turned his attention to his own two hands, staring with sheer horror at them.

"Why am I not glowing? What…?! …What's happening to me?!" he demanded.

And reluctantly I answered him, "It's mortality... You've become human…"

**(AN:**

**THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO VOTE FOR AKARI/HIKARI'S NAME, because I have plans to have her be mentioned in the next chapter. Cast your votes in the poll on my profile. NOW!!! DO IT NOOOOOWWW!!! **

**Thank you.)**


	4. Tea, Amnesia and Letters

Chapter 4

Tea, Amnesia and Letters

The Harvest God did not take what I said very well. At first there was the shock of the realization, and I must say that it was quite unsettling to see someone who had only hours ago been one of the most powerful deities of nature have to deal with such a realization. After the shock had worn away, he reverted to anger, attempting to throw a chair at a window at one point, but luckily he only managed to lift the chair slightly off the ground before he realized that his godlike strength had left him. Afterwards, he'd turned in my direction. By this time he was half fuming mad and half scared out of his mind. He grabbed the front of my coat and dragged me into his face. I heard Penelope let out a concerned yelp behind me, but I was not about to be scared by the god.

"What did you do to me Wizard?!"

"I've told you already. You're mortal. But I had nothing to do with making you that way. You startled the Witch and she dropped a bottle containing the spell that made you this way." I said as firmly as I could. He still hadn't let go of me.

"What business did she have tampering with spells that powerful?! Why didn't you stop her before she went making things like that!?!!"

"I tried to! Believe me! …now if you could kindly let go of my coat, I would be glad to help set this all right again. Your situation isn't completely hopeless."

At that simple realization, the god's expression softened and he quietly let go of me. He still looked stern, but at least he wasn't as scary as he had been only moments before. Now he was willing to talk like a sensible man. And that was precisely what we did.

"What can you do Wizard?" he asked simply.

"Let's not converse here. You seem to be feeling much better now. We should go to my home. We can discuss this all over coffee…"

"I prefer tea."

"Very well then. We'll brew some tea as well. Point being that we ought to talk in a more private location. From what I've been able to gather, the village doesn't know who you are, and it would be simplest if we didn't have to explain it to them."

"I agree," he said almost immediately afterwards.

Later on, he told me his main reason for agreeing with me here was that, frankly, he was quite embarrassed of this incident and wanted as few people to know of it as possible. This was how things operated from then on, and it came to complicate things later down the road.

Before leaving, we had to convince Doctor Jin that our new mortal friend was indeed feeling well enough to go. It was indeed an awkward situation because it was then that I had to lie on the spot in order to hide the fact that this was the real Harvest God. Really if we had tried to tell the truth, I'm pretty sure that Jin wouldn't have believed us. He was more the type to be skeptical when it came to amazing things like this. Sure he believed in the Harvest Goddess like everyone else in Castanet did, but only because so many people had gone to the Goddess Spring and seen her with their own eyes.

"Just who is this man? How do you know him Sir?" he asked me first.

"I've never met him before yesterday night," I lied, "The Witch and I found him on the mountaintop. We don't know why he was there and frankly neither does he. There was an accident that's a bit hard to explain and he must have somehow hit his head against a rock because this poor man has amnesia. Why he can't even remember his own name."

"Amnesia you say?" Jin looked quite intrigued. "I remember studying amnesiacs in medical school. It's a terrible thing when the brain gets bruised in that way. You must bring him here again if his amnesia hasn't been cured after a few weeks. If the injury is mild, his memories should come back on their own with time."

"Alright Doctor Jin. You know best." I said. At one point I glanced back at the Harvest God, and I could see clearly on his face that he didn't like the idea of playing the part of a poor clueless amnesiac. But he was just going to have to deal with that. "My wife and I figure that since I was partially involved with what happened to him, we should take him in until he's able to remember on his own like you said."

And with that we began to head home. It was late afternoon outside and suddenly I realized that we all had been unconscious for quite some time. Penelope informed me that the children were at home being babysat by Finn. Personally I considered him and most of the other harvest sprites as a sort of child too, but his wife was very close friends with Finn, enough so that she trusted him with looking after the children. I however was a bit worried about it.

The Harvest God was following us rather silently most of the way, which made me feel uneasy at times. He got quite a few stares and strangle looks as we passed through the town, probably to do with how he was dressed and simply that he was new to the village in a sense. But once we had crossed the bridge leading towards Dulcimer Farm, he finally decided to start asking questions.

"How long will it take you to undo this spell, Wizard?" he asked me sternly.

"I'm not sure honestly." I told him, "Before next new-years I hope…"

"Don't kid around with me! I'm serious! Will this take a day? A week? A season? How long will I have to remain in this feeble dying body?"

"You aren't dying…"

"Yes I am. All mortals are. It's a very slow sort of dying but it's dying nonetheless. I feel it in my flesh constantly now that my power is gone…"

At this, my wife let out a slight chuckle, "Harvest God, you're way too dramatic. You ought to have more faith in my husband. If he says he'll fix something then he'll fix something. He's never let me down before."

This succeeded in both cheering me up and burdening me at the same time. I was glad to know that my wife had so much faith in me, but I also felt compelled to not betray that confidence she had in me.

"Oh look! We have mail…" Penelope suddenly announced as we neared our home.

While she had scurried off to go check the mail, I turned in the Harvest God's direction, "I honestly can't say how long this will take, but I wasn't kidding when I said I hope to fix this before next new-years. If it isn't set right again before then, I'm afraid the change will become permanent."

The god's face went white with terror for a moment, but he shook it off, trying to keep his composure from now on.

"But that's a year from now. Surely you'll be able to set things right by then."

I nodded, "I don't see why I wouldn't be able to. Now why don't we make that tea and coffee we talked about earlier…"

And so we began to head towards the door, but just before we were able to, Penelope suddenly approached me. She had a concerned look on her face, and was now handing me a letter that had come in the mail. Curious, I was quick to look upon its unfolded contents. The letter read like so…

_Dear Penelope,_

_It's me. Your little sister Alice. I know it's been a long time but I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a bad situation. You see, I had a job in the city up until now, but there we cut backs and I was laid off. I have nowhere else to go, and you once told me that if I ever needed you that all I had to do was come to your doorstep. Well I definitely need you right now._

_I was thinking that maybe I could help on your farm until I get back up on my feet. I've never worked on a farm, but you've been at it for a while so I guess you could probably teach me anything I need to know. Plus I hear you're married with kids now. I can't wait to see my niece and nephew._

_I'll be in Castanet by Spring 2__nd__. See you then Big Sis._

_Love,_

_Alice_

**(( A/N: And so the name Alice won by rather overwhelming majority. Thank you for voting, those of you who voted.))**


	5. A Name for the Amnesiac

**(A/N: After a sort of hiatus, I am recontinuing the story! I hope you can forgive me for not updateing for so long.)**

Chapter 5

A Name for the Amnesiac

As soon as I walked through the door, I was quickly greeted by Stella and Ray who were quite elated to see that I hadn't died or gotten hurt or something of that nature. They apparently had been just as worried as Penelope had been. Finn too joined in to the group hug that my children so readily gave me as soon as I walked through that door.

"Daddy! Daddydaddydaddydaddy! You're okay right?! RIGHT?!" Stella's voice was loudest of them all as she threw her arms around my middle, half hugging and half constricting me.

"I was so worried Dad! Mom said you weren't moving, and she tried to tell us everything would be okay but I could tell she wasn't even sure herself so I got worried too and Daaaaaad don't diiiiiie!!" My son's voice overlapped with my daughter's as he managed to squeeze me as well.

"Mister Wizard! Mister Wizard! You're really alright?! Are you sure you're alright?!" I'm not completely sure what else Finn said, since combined with my children's voices he sounded like he was just spouting high-pitched nonsense.

Somewhere amidst all this, I managed to tell the three of them that I was indeed feeling just fine and nothing was wrong with me. My daughter became much happier almost immediately after I told them that, and as did Finn, but my son was more skeptical.

"But Dad… you haven't told us what happened yet. What caused that flash of light last night? And…" he then pointed behind me at the former god, "...who's that guy and why's he dressed like that?"

I was immediately met with a dilemma. Should I or shouldn't I tell my own children the truth. If I told them, I would run the risk of them accidentally telling somebody else. They were only children after all. One or two lies couldn't hurt. After all… perhaps I'd be able to fix this before next week and it would all go by like a bad dream. But then there was also the sinking feeling that I felt inside me when I considered ever having to lie to my own kids. But just to be sure, I glanced once at Penelope, making sure that she wasn't giving me any 'looks'. Anyone who's been married will know what I'm talking about. She looked just as unsure as I was, and her face seemed to read that she was leaving the decision up to me.

"What happened to cause that light… well… the witch created a spell that backfired, and this man here happened to show up at a very bad time…" from this point on, there was no turning back. I either had to lie, or tell the truth, "…He can't remember a thing. He hit his head on a rock during all the commotion, and now nobody really knows who he is or why he's dressed the way he is."

Stella fell for it almost immediately, "Oh you poor guy…"

Ray seemed like he was buying it too, but not to the same degree as his sister. He still had questions, "Did you talk to him at all before he hit his head?"

"Um… no… No I wasn't able to. He just…came out of nowhere, the spell backfired and he hit his head."

"What kind of spell was it?"

"I don't know. The witch was the one who cast it and she didn't tell me what it was."

"Why didn't you ask her? I know I would have…"

"That's not important." I was growing nervous from having to cover up all this, "The point is that this man has amnesia and will be staying with us for a while until he can remember who he is. It was partially my fault that this happened, so it's only fair."

"He isn't the only one who'll be staying here either." Penelope said, "My sister Alice is coming tomorrow too. We just got a letter from her saying that she needs a place to stay until she can get back up on her feet. …unlikely timing, but what can we do? She's family. So you two have to be on your best behavior while she's here, alright?"

"Yeah mom…" both children said in unison to that.

I took a quick glance at the Harvest God to see how he was handling all this. He hadn't said a word since we came indoors, and really, if I had not known better, I might have believed that he was some clueless amnesiac too. He was trying his best not to show weakness, I'm sure, but it wasn't working. He just looked nervous and uncomfortable in his own skin. Occasionally he would glance at his hands, moving his fingers as he stared at them, as if the mere sensation of moving felt bizarre to him now.

"Mister!" my oldest daughter piped in, trying to get the Harvest God's attention, "Mister Amnesia Guy! …Do you at least remember your name?"

She waited for his response, and after a long pause, the former god had to lie too, "It is as your father said. I don't remember anything. That includes my name." his tone was so flat that nobody there suspected a thing.

…well…actually Finn probably suspected something. I think it was then that he started to think that this man sounded chillingly similar to the Harvest God. He didn't say anything about it though.

"Well then what am I supposed to call you until you remember your name?" Stella asked him.

The Harvest God looked rather annoyed already, but he answered her, "I suppose you will just have to call me 'Sir' until then."

"_Sir? _…but that's so stiff and formal. Can't I give you a nickname or something?"

"_No you may not._" He answered firmly and immediately. But unfortunately my daughter completely ignored him and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Do you at least remember the first letter of your name? Then maybe I could pick something similar!"

The Harvest God sighed heavily. Had Stella been a little bit older, I think he might have made some rude retort, but she was only ten years old at the time, so perhaps he didn't have the heart to be too mean to an innocent child. So after mulling it over in his mind for a bit (or at least pretending to), he answered her.

"I believe that my name may have begun with the letter 'I' …but I could be wrong," I could tell that he was trying to sound convincing.

"Well… Ivan starts with I… You do sorta look like an Ivan to me, but…nahh… I don't really care for that name…" Stella said.

From the way the Harvest God exhaled loudly and rested his forehead on his hand, I knew what he was probably wanting to say… '…Why did you even bring Ivan up if you don't like the name?'

"…OH! I know! What about Iggy! I had a goldfish named Iggy once, but it died and went to goldfish-heaven."

The Harvest God looked a bit more than annoyed at this point. It was quite unlikely that my daughter had managed to choose a name that almost seemed like it was directly related to his real name…Ignis…which I did not know at the time. But then, a lot about this story is unlikely, and this won't be the last of those things.

"I do not want to be named after your dead pet goldfish," he tried to tell her, but once again, she completely ignored him.

"So where are you gonna sleep Iggy? And where will Aunt Alice sleep? Do we even have enough beds?"

We would later lay out a spare mattress on the floor of our main room, off to the side where it wouldn't get in the way of anything. We worked out that we would likely have to buy a second mattress before Alice showed up. Much to the newly dubbed Iggy's displeasure, we could not speak with him regarding his situation until later that night when the kids were sent to bed.

Almost immediately after the kids were most definitely asleep, Finn was the first to speak up before anyone else had a chance to.

"Okay wise guy!" he flew up in the Harvest God's face, "I don't know who you are or why you're dressed like the Harvest God, but I aint buying the whole 'I've got amnesia' act! Tell me who you really are this instant or else I'll…!"

"I'm the Harvest God," he answered with the utmost seriousness.

There was an awkward silence, and Finn immediately flew backwards giving him some space. What resulted next was exactly what can be expected to happen. Finn groveled and begged for forgiveness until the Harvest God told him that he was forgiven, and then we had to explain to him the entire truth of what had happened at the turn of the New Year. While it was all being explained, Penelope was busy preparing coffee for myself and tea for the Harvest God. And once that was out of the way, we began discussing what we had planned to discuss from the beginning… how to return the Harvest God back to Godhood.

"Do you at least have some sort of plan?" the god asked me, his voice remaining calm despite the sense of urgency behind it.

I shook my head, "I don't know enough yet. I'll need to gather more information about these sorts of things before I just go throwing spells at you. If I just blindly tried things without doing research, I could make your problem worse."

The former god did not look pleased at this, but he nodded, "You know, I can't help but think the Witch should be a part of this conversation. After all, she was the one who managed to cast a spell strong enough to overwhelm me."

"She's still at the clinic," Penelope told us, "She's likely still resting. Last I saw of her, she was unconscious."

"She's lucky then. Had she been awake, I would have given her a piece of my mind…" the god huffed.

"I do hope she's alright though. She was awfully close to the spell when it went off. She'll likely be suffering some affects because of that. Had you not been there to absorb the sharp end of that spell, it probably would have made her mortal instead."

"I would have been better that way," he said resentfully, "It isn't as if she has any real responsibilities regarding her power."

"Being bitter will not solve our problems Harvest God. I may not have a plan to reverse the spell yet, but I intend to find one as soon as possible. Also, it will be heartening for you to know that I do happen to be very familiar with the intricacies and affects of this spell, so I do have a sort of head start in that respect. But until I find a cure for your mortality, I'm afraid that you will have to stay put and play the part of Iggy the amnesiac."

"I think I'm going to hate that name…"


	6. Alice in Castanet

Chapter 6

Alice in Castanet

The Harvest God did not sleep well that night, and I suppose I cannot blame him for it. It was his first night being mortal after all. It must have been a lot to take for somebody who'd been such a powerful being for all of his long existence. It was almost comical seeing him huddled there in that corner trying his best to sleep on a bed that wasn't quite as long as he was tall, and fumbling with a blanket that similarly was not long enough cover his feet and his shoulders at the same time. This resulted in him having to adjust to a sort of fetal position as he tried to sleep on his side.

As time passed, Penelope and myself had retreated to our own bed and were about to fall asleep, content with the fact that the Harvest God seemed to be falling asleep. I was on the verge of dreaming when I felt someone nudging me awake.

"Wizard…"

"Mh…?"

Of course it was the Harvest God. His hair was a bit messier now, and he had his blanket draped around his body while simultaneously holding a white cat in one hand. He looked tired and irritated.

"This…" he held up the cat so that I could see it, "…will not leave me alone."

My eyes were open, but I was resistant to actually getting out of bed, "That's just Sirius. He'll leave you alone if you shoo him a couple times."

The god stared puzzledly at me, "You named your cat after the dog-star…?"

"It was Penelope's idea. She thought it was funny. Now go to sleep… Please…"

I closed my eyes after that, and I can only presume that the Harvest God tried to sleep. I become comfortable yet again, and very soon I had drifted off into a deepened sleep. But this did not last so very long either.

"Wizard…"

I was nudged awake again, and this time I answered him with an exasperated, "What?"

"The cat still will not leave me alone," Sirius was in his hands again and yet again he held the cat up for me to see, "Can you not toss it outside or something? It keeps trying to rub against my feet and sleep next to me."

"I can't just toss Sirius outside. Penelope would get mad at me if I did that. Here, just give me him and he can sleep here with me and Penelope," I offered.

The Harvest God readily handed the cat over to me, and after some petting and a few adjustments, Sirius was glad to sleep in my bed. Afterwards, I think we all found sleep to come a great deal more easily. There were no more nudges to wake me up that night, and I caught up on some much needed sleep.

………

As with every day, our family woke up at 6:00 sharp, but this of course was not like most days for us. The Harvest God was woken up by the noises made by the children, and daylight shining in through the windows. Once he'd awoken, Penelope, being the kind hearted woman she was, offered him some fried eggs and toast for breakfast. He refused at first, but as the morning dragged out and he realized that he was hungry, and there was nothing better to eat, he accepted.

"Alice will likely be coming here from the path beyond Flute Fields." Penelope said, having a sort of skip in her step as she went about her usual morning duties, "I haven't seen my sister since I first came to Castanet. It will be so nice to have her around again."

"What's Aunt Alice like mama?" Stella asked, swaying her hands back and forth in her usual playful stance.

"Well… She's always been very fearless… When we were children, if I saw a mouse, I would have screamed and stood on a chair to get away. But if Alice saw a mouse, she'd think it was cute, pick it up with her bare hands, name it and try to keep it as a pet. She was also a bit of a tomboy. But she was most definitely a great sister. You'll like her, I'm sure."

At this point, the Harvest God piped in, "It's unwise for mortals to pick up mice with their bare hands. The mouse would not have known that she meant no harm and would bite anyway."

"Oh, but Alice was never bitten. She had this way with animals. It must be her aura or something. I wish I had it. Sunday might like me more that way…" Sunday happened to be the name of the family cow, and as my wife stated, the cow did not like her very much. Our children had taken up the cow's care because of this.

"So will we be going to meet her, or should we wait for her to come here?" I asked.

"Well, I do need to buy seeds for this year's harvest…" Penelope said, "We'll meet her over there. Knowing her, she'll be here as early as she can. Once we meet up with her, she can help us pick the seeds for this spring. It'll be fun!"

"Well what will I be doing in the meantime?" the Harvest God asked us.

"You'll be coming with us Iggy..." I answered him, "You wouldn't want to be cooped up in the house all day, now would you?"

The god cringed at his nickname, "Not you too…"

………

There was nothing that could have prepared me, nor the Harvest God, nor anyone else involved in these implausible events for the sort of complications that Alice would bring. None of it was really her fault. Nor was it the fault of the god, or Penelope, or my children, or myself, or anyone at all. No, I believe the fault rests solely in that which pulls the strings of fate.

Alice arrived just as Penelope had predicted that she would. Standing there by the large barn of Horn Ranch, we watched as a small speck in the distance slowly grew larger and larger, and soon a clueless young woman was arriving on foot into our story. It was a little while before we were able to get a good look at her, but soon we decided to walk in order to meet her, and she came into clear view. This girl was most certainly my wife's sister. She had the same shade of hair, the same big brown eyes, and she even had the same sort of gait. But she was also quite different from Penelope. Most notably, Alice's hair had a tendency to flip outwards whereas my wife's did the opposite and curled inwards. This, and just by looking at her, you could tell that Alice had never seen the countryside before. Perhaps it was how she looked out at the sky and the surrounding fields so often as if she were entering another world.

"Penelope!" Alice called out, and immediately her sister ran to greet her with a hug.

"Alice! It's so great to see you!"

And the sisters embraced. It was a rather heartwarming sight if I do say so myself. Both looked as if they had wanted nothing more than to do this for years now. The two exchanged a few more words, but I cannot remember them well. I remember that I'd glanced at the Harvest God then. He must have felt out of place here, and I can't really blame him. Standing off behind me, he was staring down at a tuft of grass off to the side, trying to look as if he found it much more interesting than anything else at the moment. Shrugging it off, I turned back to my wife and sister-in-law to find that the children were already meeting her.

"Oh and these are your children? They're adorable! ...So you must be Stella…and you're Ray."

Stella looked shocked, "Oh wow! How did you know? Are you a magic-person like Daddy?"

Alice just laughed, "Oh no, I'm a normal human. Your mother told me all about you in her letters to me. She says that you like jewelry Stella, so I thought I'd get you something…"

As Alice reached to a pouch at her side, Stella's eyes widened with anticipation, "What? Really? Whatisitwhatisit?" she scrambled closer to get a better look.

Soon, Alice had pulled what appeared to be a sapphire pendant from her pouch, and Stella practically squealing with joy when she got a good look at it, "Happy Birthday Stella!"

"Thank you Auntie!" Stella took the pendant readily and then immediately put it around her neck.

At this, Ray huffed, "It isn't even her birthday…" Clearly he was just annoyed that his sister had gotten a present and not him.

"Well I haven't been here for any of your birthdays, so I guess I'm making up for that. …Oh and don't worry Ray. I'll get you something too just as soon as I can."

"Alice? Are you sure it's okay? I mean… that's an expensive pendant…" Penelope said.

Alice shrugged and smiled, "That's alright. I'm not the one who bought it anyway…" but before anyone had a chance to ask more about that subject, she'd noticed me, "OH! And you must be the Husband that she refuses to tell me the name of. Nice to meet you!"

She held out a hand, and so I shook it out of politeness. Her mere presence was starting to make me nervous and I felt myself reverting back to my old antisocial behavior. Strangers, even if they're technically family, are one of my utmost fears. I will admit that.

"Nice… to… meet you as well…" I said weakly.

But much to my relief, she did not spend much time talking to me, for she'd noticed the last person in our party. The Harvest God had not moved from his spot behind me, and seemed to be trying his best to disappear into his surroundings, which is hard when you have bright red hair and are as tall as he is. That and he still hadn't changed out of the clothes that he'd worn yesterday. Come to think of it, I'm surprised that she didn't notice him first.

"And who might you be?" she asked, keeping a cheerful tone.

The god glanced at her, as if making sure that she was in fact talking to him. Once this had been confirmed, he said in the most cynical tone, "_Nobody important_."

"His name's Iggy!" Stella decided to do the introductions for him, "He's an amnesiac. Daddy found him yesterday all dressed up like the Harvest God on the top of Mt. Garmon and he can't remember a thing. I decided to name him Iggy."

"Oh well what a strange story," Alice said, and she turned to the god, "They've taken you in?"

"In a sense, yes," he said.

"Well then I guess we're not all that different, huh?" she sent him a warm smile, "We've both lost something and are starting over with a blank slate. Everything's new for us. I do hope we can be friends."

The Harvest God's reaction to her statement surprised me a little bit. For a moment, I saw his eyes soften instead of their usual state of being narrow and focused, and with it, his whole face seemed so different. Just what was going through his head? It was impossible for me to know.

"…I" he paused, and then his face took its usual stern appearance again, "I suppose there's no point otherwise…" which was as good as a yes coming from him.


End file.
